Tag Archives: First Dates

Canadian original series, First Dates is back for a thrilling second season featuring a brand new restaurant, all-new staff, and six hundred daters looking for love. In each episode, connections are made, hearts are broken, and plenty of awkward moments are captured as cameras catch relationship hopefuls on blind dates looking to find that special someone. A new season of First Dates (14×30) premieres Tuesday, March 14 with back-to-back episodes at 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Slice ™.

Filmed in downtown Vancouver, the series is situated in a local restaurant that is filled with real people on real first dates, and the ensuing drama is captured on over 40 remote-controlled cameras. For some daters, there is an instant and very apparent attraction, but for others, it’s clear there is never going to be a happy ending.

The action jumps from table to table as some dates move painfully along, while other dates enjoy every single moment of their time together. Half-concealed looks of hope and disappointment, flirtatious hair twirling, and under the table hand-holding are all captured. The greatest part of First Dates is the ending. After the bill has been paid, the couples are filmed side by side and reveal whether or not they are attracted to each other and if they want to meet again.

Based on the hit format from Warner Bros. International Television Production, First Dates is a co-production between Force Four Entertainment and Remedy Canada Productions, in association with Corus Entertainment.

Shaw Media has greenlit a second season of Slice™’s scintillating series First Dates, with production and casting underway now. The First Dates matchmakers have begun an extensive search for a diverse mix of singles looking to be paired up on a blind date in hopes of finding that special someone. Produced by Force Four Entertainment and Remedy Canada Productions, in association with Shaw Media, First Dates is a docuseries that sets single men and women up on a first date with cameras capturing all their real and romantic moments. The second season of First Dates will air on Slice in 2016 and the entire first season can be watched online at slice.ca along with exclusive digital extras.

First Dates is looking for Canadians of all genders, orientations, ages, backgrounds, and professions who are single and actively looking, or at least open to the prospect of finding someone special. The series will be filmed in Vancouver this Spring, and all Canadians are welcome to apply. The casting site also allows people to nominate friends or family for the show through the same online application process. Online applications for First Dates can be filled out by visiting slice.ca/casting-call. Applicants must be 19 years of age or older, available for filming in the Vancouver area, and must provide a headshot of themselves.

Hailed as “wonderful” and “utterly beguiling” by The Globe and Mail, First Dates gives viewers a gripping look at the hope, charm, attractions, awkwardness, heartaches, connections, and the stakes of a first date. Each episode showcases a restaurant of singles who have been hand matched for a blind date with someone they’ve never met. The restaurant is fitted with 35 fixed-rig cameras capturing every moment, from potential sparks to awkward small talk, flirtatious glances, and sometimes forced smiles. In Season 1, the First Dates restaurant hosted over 300 first dates, which led to 50 smooches and 100 second dates.

Update: Season 1 of Slice’s First Dates is being re-broadcast on Global starting this Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. Here’s what I wrote about the show when it debuted last September on Slice.

There’s a wall-sized sign on the wall in the restaurant where First Dates is filmed. The sign says: Things Can Get Messy, and it’s a pretty apt discription of Slice’s latest original series.

Filmed in one of Earls’ Vancouver locations, First Dates uses Big Brothers setup of filming with a multitude of cameras and microphones that capture every step—and misstep—single Canadians make on the dating scene.

Tuesday’s debut focuses on a trio of blind dates that run the gamut from success to bona fide train wreck. This being a nice Canadian production, however, there are no tears and screaming when a match isn’t made, though you can tell from Billi-Ann’s body language she just isn’t feeling it with Charles. Perhaps it’s his penchant for speaking in the third person, or his intimate knowledge of drinks with college-level amounts of booze in them. Regardless, it doesn’t take long for viewers to realize this HR dude by day, party guy by night, is no match for Billi-Ann.

Much more successful are Denai and Edward, who flirt their way through dinner, aided by her numerous comments about his cuteness, his endless muscle flexing and a shocking moment where he undoes his pants during the appetizer course. Is this the way the kids act during dates nowadays? Are they at the point where twenty somethings throw caution to the wind and flash some skivvy to attract attention? Apparently.

That’s not to say First Dates isn’t highly enjoyable. It is, if you’re looking for pure guilty pleasure entertainment. First Dates the perfect show to sit and watch with friends so that you can laugh, poke fun at—and perhaps commiserate—along with for an hour.